Rebirth
by kaoru-star
Summary: Winter. A year efter the magic knights returned to Tokyo... Mystery lurks behind the dark curtains of the seemingly endless shadows of events... But what is really happening?
1. Strange Meetings

Chapter One

Strange Meetings

Winter.

A year after the magic knights returned to their homes in Tokyo...

The students prepared their things as their bus pulled to a stop in front of the Grand Hotel of Hokkaido, where they were to stay there for one whole week. It was a field trip and Hikaru had been more than eager to get to Hokkaido. She loved to ski.

She reached up to get her luggage from the top cabinet and felt a set of gentle hands touch her not yet gloved hands.

"Oh, Junichiro." She said softly. Junichiro was her boyfriend. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with grayish hair and green eyes. Yes, he looked like Eagle. He reminded Hikaru of Eagle very much. The Eagle that was her friend. The Eagle that died. It was such sorrow to think of.

"Are you all right?" she heard.

"Huh? Oh... yes..." was Hikaru's answer. She smiled at him. He smiled back.

Hikaru looked different know. It has been a year. She was taller and her hair was longer, but she didn't like to put it in braids as much as she did before. She just let it flow naturally. And well, she was still skinny. But strong, as we all know.

Junichiro stepped down the bus first and offered his hand to help Hikaru down. He was sweet. Who wouldn't be? Being the girlfriend of a not so average person in their school was a very good way to step up from your social status before, but Junichiro was different from all the other boys who courted Hikaru. He was no gold digger. It seemed as though he loved her... 'But what is love?' Hikaru wondered. After being away from Lantis for so long, she doesn't really know what love is anymore...

They stepped into the big hotel, looking around with amused expressions. The reception counter was to their left. And a short distance before them was a set of stairs, wonderfully decorated with red and gold carpets. Perfect for the Christmas season. There was a café not further by the stairs with a low metal railing as its boundary. There were two men seated at a table near the metal railing. Sipping as what it seemed, some coffee. They both had black hair and broad-shouldered bodies. But sadly, their faces were a blur. They were a bit far to be seen clearly. One of them had shoulder-length hair, though.

Junichiro grabbed Hikaru's hand and pulled her to the café. Smiling widely.

"Junichiro, where are we going?" Hikaru asked.

"Oh, Hikaru. You look cold. I just thought we should have some hot chocolate. Let's go over to the café over there." Junichiro said as he tugged her along.

'The café.' Hikaru thought. She looked over to where the two men with black hair were sitting. They stood up and took their coats. Junichiro suddenly stopped. Hikaru kept walking until she hit Junichiro's back with a soft thud and rubbed her nose. She looked up at his face. 'He looks tense. Why?' Hikaru wondered. He was looking at the direction of the two men. She looked there as well.

They were gone.

"Junichiro?" She said in a small voice.

"Oh! Huh?" He seemed to have snapped back to reality. "Oh, yeah."

"STUDENTS!" A loud, booming voice called out.

Junichiro and Hikaru quickly turned around and headed towards their teacher.

"All right! Since we arrived earlier than scheduled, I want you to take your time and enjoy yourselves. You can do whatever you want. Just don't do anything that will get you or me, for that matter, in trouble now, ya' hear?" she said.

"Yes, ma'am!" everybody replied.

"Oh! I want to go skiing!! Come on, Junichiro!" Hikaru said and ran off.

"Oh, man. But I don't know how to ski..." Junichiro mumbled and saw that Hikaru was gone, "Hey! Wait up! Wait for me!"

The outdoor breeze was frosty and it felt wonderful against Hikaru's cheeks. It didn't take long for her cheeks to become rosy and red. But she felt cold. Her coat wasn't thick enough, and her body was shivering already.

"Are you sure you aren't cold, Hikaru?" Junichiro asked, concerned.

Hikaru just nodded. As Junichiro went off to get her some thicker garments, her cellphone rang. She took it from her coat pocket and placed it against her ear.

"Hai, moshi moshi?" (Yes, Hello?) Hikaru greeted.

"Hikaru-chan!" was the other person in the other end.

"Waah! Umi-chan!" Hikaru exclaimed.

"So? How's everything there in Okinawa?"

"Oh, fine! The weather's absolutely perfect for skiing!" answered Hikaru.

"Oh really? Everything's fine to you! Honestly, you have to learn to complain sometimes..." went Umi on the other side.

Suddenly, the two men who she saw in the café passed by in front of her. They looked malevolently familiar... The one with short hair abruptly stopped and looked at her. With eyes wide open.

It was a strange sensation. Those eyes were something that she would never forget. They were something she used to look at. Something she loved to look at. Hikaru felt as though the world around her suddenly froze, and that there was only her and... "Lantis..." she uttered softly.

"Hello? Hello? Hello! Hikaru? What did you just say? Hikaru!" went Umi on the phone. CLICK. She was gone.

She stood there with eyes wide. She could hear her breathing along with her heartbeat, and his too. No! This could not be! Lantis was in Cephiro. And she was in Earth. "Lantis..." she said again. "It couldn't be you..." she walked slowly forward to touch his face. Her eyes were getting teary and her body was starting to feel numb because of the cold. The man that she was calling Lantis only stared at her, without moving. She took a step forward and gasped. There was a figure. A shadow. Holding a knife. Ready to plunge it at Lantis' back.

"NO!" she shouted as she fainted in the arms of the young man.

He was holding her. Still wide-eyed. Shocked.

"Lantis..." Said his brother, pushing aside a strand of his long hair. "I..."

Lantis stayed silent.

"Lantis... She's... different now..." He said again.

"I know... Zagato..." Lantis said silently. "I know..."

"Well, people change." A familiar voice said overhead. Lantis looked up. Eagle.

"Eagle? You're here, too?" Lantis said. Still without emotion.

"Correction. It's Eagle to you but Junichiro to her." Eagle answered with a smile as he kneeled down to pick her up.

"No, I'll do it." Lantis said.

"Lantis. Look... She's my girlfriend." Eagle said. Careful of his words.

"What?... Oh..." He looked shaken. It was an even bigger shock to hear that Eagle was actually Hikaru's boyfriend.

"She doesn't know that I'm Eagle, Lantis." Junichiro said as he carried her off.

"Lantis..." Hikaru murmurmed, still unconscious. Junichiro heared it, but pretended that he didn't, and turned around to face Lantis and Zagato with a wacky expression on his face.

"Uhmm... I was wondering... Erm... Could she stay in your room for a while? Coz' the keys to our rooms aren't with us yet.so..."

"Hahaha..." Zagato laughed out loud. "You've got a very funny friend here, Lantis. Oh, no. I meant, rival... Hahaha... Come on. Take her to our room first..."

"Ehehehehe... Thanks... I swear, I'll pay you back." Junichiro said.

"Oh, no. There's no need." Zagato answered.

"No, I will... Really!" Junichiro answered back.

The two started to argue. Lantis was walking behind them, staring at Hikaru. Indeed, she looked different now. More mature, more... beautiful... He wondered if this was because of Eagle...

Author's Notes: Thaks for the correction. I switched Okinawa into Hokkaido. So sorry for the inconvinience. Thank you and sorry if its rushed and confusing because, you see, it's difficult for me to describe the effects I see in my imagination into words because everything just flows out once I start typing. My bad. I'll try to elaborate next time anyway. Thanks for your time!


	2. Tell Me

Chapter Two

Tell Me

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

_The sound of the dripping water was swift yet steady. Hikaru was curled up in a little corner in the dark room. Asleep._

"_Hikaru... Hikaru... Hikaru... wake up... Hikaru..."_

_Slowly she opened her eyes. A woman with long golden hair was standing over her, touching her shoulder with her warm hands. She could not see her face, not even recognize her voice. But somewhere in her heart, she knew. She knew who this person was. She just hasn't figured out who it was exactly... _

"_Hikaru... Come with me. I want to show you something." She held out her hand for Hikaru._

"_Okay..." Hikaru suddenly turned into a little child, looking up at her mother; a mother with no face._

_She took little Hikaru to a small door._

"_Open it..." she said. Hikaru did as she was told and opened the door._

_Inside was a garden with several women gathered around something or someone. She could not tell. And as she took three steps forward, they all broke out and started to move around._

"_What are they doing?" little Hikaru asked._

"_They're dancing..." the woman with no face answered.  
_

_The women cleared the way and there, she saw, was a man._

"_Oh, so that's what they were gathered there for..." she said softly. _

_The women suddenly started to dance around her and in the process, were dropping some petals along the ground around her. Little Hikaru suddenly became the teenager she truly was once again, and having her own mind again, she started to back off from all the women. She slowly walked and stumbled over something._

"_Uhnn..." she groaned. She looked up and she saw..._

_Knives of different shapes and sizes were all scattered around the place. And the man whom all the girls were gathered around a while ago, was now lying on his side, unconscious. And behind him was a huge tree. She stood up and took another three steps when suddenly, the knives flew up in the air and shot at her. One of them managed to wound her on her arm, although she tried to the extent of her evasion skills. _

_She clutched her arm tightly as she took a quick look once again of her surroundings. Blood. There was blood everywhere. She quickly ran to the man lying a few steps before her. And she did, without any of the knives shooting at her. She carefully tended to the man. She pushed him gently so that he was lying on his back and saw that his face was filled with blood. Lantis. She heard laughter. A gruesome laughter. Someone seems to be amused with the turn-outs of the events._

"_No... Lantis... NO... LANTIS!!" she gasped, stuttered and started to move backward. Merely two steps she took and a knife stabbed her from behind. She couldn't breathe. She was falling... down... down... down... But wait! There is a light! And through the light, there was someone standing. Lantis._

"Hey! Come on. Just let me pay you back. I mean, I should pay you double for letting her stay here. This is one of the finest suites!"

"Oh, no no no no! You don't have to do that, really."

"Be quiet you two! Can't you see she's asleep?"

Hikaru started to cough violently and this caused her to wake up.

"Cough Cough I gotta' cough go to the bathroom!" she said, and ran to the bathroom she did.

She stayed in there for quite a long time. Blood was all over the sink. Why was this happening? Wasn't that just a dream? Hikaru decided that she was in the bathroom for a time too long and steeped out. The sink was covered with blood. She looked at herself in the mirror and her face was covered with blood. She wiped it off before opening the door. The three boys were outside with their own poses. She forced a smile.

"Hehehe... Hey, guys." She sounded like a drunk girl and she definitely walked like one. She started to fall. Junichiro was quick to catch her but Lantis already did. She felt warm in this man's arms. It felt really safe and secure to be around him.

"Hey, hey! Wait a second." Junichiro started.

"Oh, well. I'm just gonna' go and get a towel from the bathroom." Zagato started.

"okay, Zagato. You do that and I'll go get some ice. Don't be getting any ideas Lantis. I'm watching you." Eagle said. Seriously.

'Zagato? And... Lantis...? Did I just hear those names? Impossible! I'm imagining it again. Wait a minute... Oh, snap! I forgot to clean out the sink! It's still covered with blood!' Hikaru quickly pulled loose from the man who was holding her and literally ran into the bathroom. She was too late. Zagato was already standing by the sink. He looked at her and his eyes pierced through her heart.

"Z... Zagato?" she said.

"Oh, yeah. Would you mind explaining." He said gently, pointing to the sink.

"Oh, I just..." she started.

"Had a bad dream?" he continued.

"Yeah... How did you know...?" Hikaru said, standing straight now.

"Hikaru. I know these things. So why was blood involved this time, I wonder? Is it maybe because your death was involved in this dream?" Zagato said as he pulled off a towel from the rack by the shower.

"I... Oh... Yes..." Hikaru said, bowing down her head.

"You're lucky to be alive. Most people, when they dream about their own deaths, it usually means that their souls are dead. If you got no soul, you got no life. That's the way it is." He guided her out the bathroom. "You're really lucky if you ask me."

"I... Dunno what to say... Please... don't tell anyone about this. Most especially Junichiro." Hikaru whispered.

Zagato smiled and whispered to her ear, "So, was my brother involved in this dream?"

"WHAT?!" Hikaru shouted. Lantis and Junichiro looked at her. She blushed. Zagato laughed out loud.

"Hey, quit it!" Junichiro said, trying to cover Lantis' eyes, "Man, you are some tough competition!" He really hated it when other men gives her girl a second look.

"You stop it, Eagle." Lantis said. Loud enough for Hikaru to hear.

"Eagle?" she repeated.

"Oh, what he meant is that he... never actually saw a real eagle... so I should stop it and accompany him to see one... yeah! That's it! I mean, come on! They're almost extinct, right?" Junichiro covered.

"Please, tell me. Are you really him? Are you really Eagle? And you." She turned to Lantis, "Is that really you... Lantis?" she reached to touch his face but pulled back instead. "I... Please tell me... What's going on..."

"Nothing. Nothing's going on..." Junichiro started. Taking a few steps nearer Hikaru.

"Eagle... It is you... I knew it from the moment I first saw you. I just..." Hikaru said.

"I..." Junichiro murmured. "I'm sorry I lied, Hikaru... I just wanted to start over as Junichiro Koizumi, not Eagle Vision..." he said sadly and hugged her. Lantis turned around to block the sight from his mind and Zagato laughed out loud.

"Eagle will always be Eagle to me. Zagato will be Zagato and... Lantis will still be... Lantis." She said, her voice quavering. She reached into her pocket where she always carried the gift Lantis gave her and held it tightly. "Please..." she said, with tears in her eyes, "Tell me..."

Author's Notes: So? How do you like it? A cliffhanger once again, huh? Thanks for taking your time to read this! :-)

Next Chapter Sneak Preview: Well... read the next chapter.


	3. the DreamWeaver

Chapter Three

The DreamWeaver

"Tell me. Everything. What you are doing here and if the others are here, too." Hikaru managed to say as she wiped her tears away.

"I... well, I'm not exactly sure where they are. That's the reason why Lantis and I are here in Hokkaido. We're sort of looking for them, if they are here. And well, there's another purpose..." Zagato said.

"And what might that be?" Lantis asked. He obviously didn't know.

"Well, I heard from a friend of mine back at Tokyo that..." Zagato managed to say before Hikaru and Eagle interrupted.

"You have a friend back in Tokyo?!" Hikaru started.

"I didn't even know you lived there!!" Eagle said.

"This is quite a shock to me." Hikaru mumbled.

"You said it, sister. Err... I meant, Hikaru." Eagle said when Hikaru gave him a look. A big chunk of sweat dropped from behind his head down to his neck.

"Erm... Okay, okay... That's enough! Ahem... As I was saying, I heard from my friend back at Tokyo that there was a dream decoder here in these parts." Zagato said.

"A what?" Eagle asked.

"A dream decoder. She calls herself the DreamWeaver." Zagato answered.

"Oh, you mean like some sort of fortune teller." Eagle said.

"Uh... Not exactly, but close enough anyway..." Zagato said.

"When did you go to this DreamWeaver? I don't remember you leaving." Lantis asked silently.

"Oh, you were asleep." Zagato answered, trying his best not to laugh.

"So, this person told you about your dream? Am I right?" Hikaru said.

"That's right. You see, I had this dream that everything around me was crumbling, and a light was shining ahead. I went into the light, and that's all I remember. I'm not really good at remembering dreams anyhow." Zagato said.

"And?" Hikaru asked eagerly.

"And she told me that it meant that my former birthplace was going to get destroyed, and that hope will not be lost because I shall be moved into a new place, living a new and somewhat improved live. In a way, reborn, I suppose." Zagato answered sitting by the bed beside Hikaru.

"You didn't tell any of this stuff to me." Lantis sulked.

"Why are you sulking? I told you I was going to tell you something important on the time of your chores but you just run away from your responsibilities." Zagato answered.

"Wait a minute. Chores? Are you telling me that you live here now? In Japan?" Eagle asked again.

"Yes." Zagato answered.

"But... So does that mean you're a citizen of Japan?" Eagle questioned.

"Yeah. I woke up one morning and everything was already in place. I had friends, a job, and a mighty large apartment which I share with my brother. And he's in college now." Zagato said, smiling.

"Wow..." Eagle marveled.

"Wait... Your birthplace- Sefiro- was crumbling? What? I don't understand? Do you mean to say that Sefiro is destroyed?" Hikaru suddenly became alert.

"Yes... Well, everything gets destroyed after a billion years, Hikaru. And it's just by coincidence that after you left, it was Sefiro's billionth-something year..." Zagato answered. "So I was thinking. Maybe we could ask the DreamWeaver to decode your dreams. If that isn't too much trouble."

"Yeah, I think that would be a nice idea. I need to clear my mind of that horror." Hikaru said, standing up. "But I should ask my teacher first. I'm pretty sure she'd understand."

"No. Absolutely not." Their teacher said.

"But, ma'am. We'll just be gone for a couple of hours. We'll be back. I promise. I'm gonna' take care of her!" Eagle said.

"Hmph! That's exactly what I was afraid of!" she grunted.

"Please, ma'am. I promise that we'd be responsible." Hikaru begged.

"I've got absolutely no problems with you. It's Koizumi I'm worried about." The teacher said, still unconvinced.

"Oh, he promises to be good. Right, Eag... I mean, Junichiro?" Hikaru said.

"Of course." Eagle said. Raising up his hands as if reciting a pledge.

"Don't do anything that you might regret. All right. Get going. And be back after 3 hours. Anymore and you won't get to go on the outing tomorrow. Oh, and here are your keys." The teacher threw their keys at Eagle.

"Thanks, teach. See you later!" Eagle said as the couple ran out of the main door of the hotel.

Outside, a van was waiting for them. Inside, was Zagato on the driver's seat and Lantis on the front passebger seat. Lantis rolled down the windows.

"Hop in." Lantis said.

"Cool van!" Eagle said as he slid into the car, "Where'd you get hold of this baby?"

"I rented it. Pretty sleek, huh?" Zagato answered, and away they went.

"I remember that the DreamWeaver's house had some sort of crest on the door. Let's see... Aha! Here it is! Come on!" Zagato lead the way into a shabby but dark house. A woman in black came out and told them to wait while her sister prepared for the decoding.

"I'm really nervous about this..." Hikaru said. She looked around her, blowing warmth at her hands and realized that _she was curled up in a corner_. Just like in her dream.

"We're ready for you." The woman in black appeared and guided her to a dark room, lit with four candles. It gave the room a soft atmosphere. Soft but creepy.

"Please, sit." The woman said and not long after, another woman came out from the opposite side of the room. A young _woman with long golden hair and a veiled face. _The woman in her dream.

She giggled. "Hello there, Hikaru. How are you?"

"Huh..." Hikaru trembled in her chair.

She giggled again. Her voice was soothing and gentle, yet there was a fierceness in her manners that told Hikaru that she was not taking this job for granted.

_"Hikaru... Come with me. I want to show you something." She held out her hand for Hikaru._

"I... gasp I..." Hikaru was trembling violently now. She was scared.

"Don't be afraid. It's me. The woman in your dreams. Remember?" she said softly.

Hikaru did remember. But she was very afraid. _A warm hand touched her shoulder. _In that instant, Hikaru felt that she can be trusted. She decided to see whatever it was the DreamWeaver was going to show her.

The veiled woman led Hikaru to a _small_ wooden_ door_.

"Here..." she said as she opened the door carefully.

Inside, there were five _women dancing_ around the room, and when they saw the veiled girl, they abruptly stopped and kneeled down. Speaking in an indefinable language. The veiled woman, in return, answered back. She led Hikaru farther into the room and shut the door behind them. Suddenly, something that wasn't in the room before appeared before Hikaru.

"What?" Was all Hikaru managed to say.

"We have been waiting for you, Chosen One." The veiled woman said and also kneeled before her.

"WHAT?" Hikaru asked sarcastically.

"You see that crest on top of the table? It is called the Dream Prophet. It is the decoder of dreams. My slaves have just performed the ceremony in time of your arrival. That crest was to be entrusted to the next supposedly righteous pillar to Sefiro. But the system has long been gone. And Sefiro, too." She said.

"And you are?" Hikaru asked.

"I am but a deliverer of the crest. Now that I have fulfilled my purpose, I shall disappear from this world forever." She answered.

"What? But wht?" Hikaru shouted.

She giggled. "I am not real. I was only created for the purpose of delivering that to you. I am what you might call... an illusion... And now it is time for me to bid you... farewell..." and with that she disappeared.

"But wait! No! Don't leave! I have so much I need to know!" she screamed, running after the disappearing ashes.

"The answer..." a voice said, "Lies in your dreams..."

"In my dreams..." Hikaru said to herself, a walked back to the table with the golden crest. She picked it up and examined it closely. It was a tiny golden crest. Carved with intricate designs, and at one corner, a small 'H' was engraved. Perhaps this was really meant for her. She held it as she opened the door and stepped out of the room to where Zagato and the others were waiting. With her head bowed down, she said, "Let's go home..."

"What happened?" Zagato asked. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Was her answer. Her voice was commanding and final. No one dared ask her anything else.

In the van, she was seated beside Eagle at the back. Eagle had his ears plugged with earphones. He was listening to music again. Hikaru was deep in thought beside him, though. She decided to think about it instead in the morning. After her head was cleared out of all the things that happened today. The sky was dark outside and the snow started falling.

Hikaru reached into her pocket to look and see if there was anymore space for her to put the crest in, along with the other stuff she carried. She took out everything that was in her pocket. Her cellphone, a pack of gum, some rubber bands for tying up her hair and Lantis' 'gift' to her. She all set them on her lap and picked up the gift from Lantis. The crest suddenly disappeared from her lap. Thinking that it dropped to the floor, she bent down to look for it and noticed that Lantis 'gift' was somehow different in appearance. Then she noticed a little 'H' by its side.

She gaped at it for a while. The crest and her ever treasured only gift from Lantis had merged together and formed a necklace like item. Hikaru decided to wear it, and she did.

Finally, they reached the hotel.

"We're here." Lantis said, turning around at the back.

Eagle was unplugging his earphones and he saw Hikaru's necklace. It looked so much like the gift he gave her. But that wasn't it because it looked different. Hikaru caught Lantis' sight and held her hand up to the necklace. Lantis was startled and looked up at Hikaru. Straight into her eyes and gasped. Hikaru was smiling at him.

"Good night, Lantis. Good night, Zagato. See you all in the morning." She said as she stepped out of the van.

Eagle stretched and yawned. "Yeah, good night." He said as he put his arms around Hikaru's shoulder and they walked into the Hotel door. It was indeed a very disturbing day for Hikaru. She wondered what surprises may be waiting for her tomorrow...

Author's Notes: Whew! This is the longest among the first three chapters. I hope you enjoyed it. I think this is better than the first two? Oh, well... It's up to you to say that isn't it? Review please! I wonder what's gonna happen next... Mwahahahaha...!


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